mozilla mail suddenly stopped downloading messages

hi-

i am running mozilla 1.7.5 on win xp pro on an ibm thinkpad.

suddenly, after years of fine service, my email has suddenly stopped downloading my email from the pop server at rcn.com.

when i open the email program or click "get messages" the lower address line shows "connected to pop.rcn.com" but then appears to hang there. it is not requesting id or password as it occasionally did nor is it bringing down my messages,

i have removed and reinstalled mozilla; established new accounts and have been unable to correct the problem.

can you assist me this problem?

thanks for your help ! emlsr



rcn reports no system problem- altho they do not support mozilla

 

emlsr,

Back up your Profiles folder, and first do the basic workarounds:

Exit Mozilla, open Windows Explorer, and navigate to your pop.rcn.com Mail Account Folder, located here:

C:\Documents and Settings\user_name\Application Data\Mozilla\Profiles\profilename\*.slt\Mail\pop.rcn.com

NOTE: These files are hidden by default.
To see hidden files:
1. On the Tools menu in Windows Explorer, click Folder Options
2. Click the View tab
3. Under Hidden files and folders, click Show hidden files and folders
4. Disable "Hide File Extensions for Known Files. "
5. Click OK.

Delete all files with an MSF extension, but don't delete files WITHOUT an MSF extension, as they contain your mail

Next: navigate to the *.slt folder and delete these files and folder:
Cache folder
history.dat file
XUL.mfl file
These files/folder will be rebuilt when Mozilla starts

Open Mozilla Mail & Newsgroups
Empty all Trash Folders: File | Empty Trash
Compact Folders: File | Compact Folders

Let us know whether or not this corrects your problem.

 

further info

hi ramona-

thanks for the very prompt answer.

i did not gv u enuff detail, so i shall fill in now- i hv not lost my prior mail. in fact i hv set up additional accounts in which i am retaining the earlier correspondence so that it is all readily available to me.

the earlier accounts are in the user - "administrator" altho the new one i set up when the problem arose is in the user "edward" . therefore i hv not killed the .msf accounts since the mail is available.

i did remove the files u named in the *.slt folder under the "edward" user. shud i b doing this in the "administrator" folder as well.

i emptied trash in all the accounts. i tried to compact the folders in all accounts, but it seemed to hang up on "drafts" in the new account- which is empty.

when i open up mozilla mail i get "connected to pop.rcn.com" and it hangs there. so i can't try compacting again.

help ! and thank you, emlsr

 

additional info

hi-

i shud also hv told u that in the "dummy" accounts i use for the older mail, i use false id's and servers, so that these cannot bring down the mail from the webmail. this has worked out fine in the past.

thanks, emlsr

 

Can you sign in at the website?

You should not have all the problems that you mention. The reason why Ramona suggested that you delete the .msf or header files, is because, they may become corrupted. You will see your previously downloaded mail, but not new mail, although it may have been downloaded.
The "dummy" account does not matter, since it is for storage only. You don't need a separate account. You should be able to get way with subfolders, or other folders of your account.
You must have saved your password. If you don't it should not start the way you describe. You can delete the password from Privacy|passwords, and not saved them until you are under control.
And, don't mess with Norton or McAfee Security. You are lookijng for trouble using it. Try disabling the beast, at least for a while.
And, try to send an e-mail to yourself. That may tell you something.

 

it was a firewall problem

hi-

thanks for the help and guidance. i decided to install outlook express which is supported by my isp--- rcn.

when this did not work, they immediately pointed me to the norton firewall- turning it off corrected the problem in both mozilla and outlook express.

thanks again, emlsr